This disclosure relates generally to the field of fuel cells, and more particularly to a degradation detecting device for a fuel cell stack, a fuel cell system having the degradation detecting device and a managing method thereof.
Fuel cells are electro-chemical devices which can convert chemical energy from a fuel into electrical energy through an electro-chemical reaction of the fuel, such as hydrogen, with an oxidizer, such as oxygen contained in the atmospheric air. Fuel cell systems are being widely developed as an energy supply system because fuel cells are environmentally superior and highly efficient. As single fuel cell can only generate voltages of about 1V, therefore, a plurality of fuel cells are usually stacked together (usually referred to as a fuel cell stack) to get a desired voltage.
A taller or larger fuel cell stack is favorable due to its compact integration and ease of installation. Multiple fuel cell stacks are usually located in a shared hotbox for higher thermal efficiency. Due to thermal/mechanical stress, thermal fatigue, Ni/NiO reaction, catalyst poisoning, crossover/overboard leakage and/or cell/stack defect, the fuel cell stack will inevitably degrade. If the degradation cannot be detected in time, the fuel cell stack may quickly lead to an irreversible failure result, such as thermal runaway, or even explosion.
Therefore, how to detect degradation of the fuel cell stack as early as possible would become increasingly urgent.